Adam Robinson, the technology entrepreneur who died when the private jet carrying his family and their children’s nanny crashed Sunday, had previously written about why making time for loved ones mattered to him.
Robinson, 45, founded the technology startup Retention. He was traveling aboard a twin-engine Learjet 60 with his wife, Helen Sharp, 40, and their children, Emma, four, and Charlie, two, when the aircraft plunged to the ground and erupted in flames near West Palm Beach, Florida.
The family was flying from their home in Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas. Also aboard were nanny Anita Maria Cetina and couple Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr. All nine people on the plane were killed.
As relatives and friends mourn the victims, a post Robinson shared in April has resurfaced. In it, he reflected on his earlier career on Wall Street and the decision he made to put family time ahead of long working hours.
‘People my age now (45) said they were working 70, 80, 90 hours a week for their families… but all their families actually wanted was their presence,’ he wrote.
‘They didn’t understand why their families resented how much they worked when they lived in a nice house and their kids went to private schools.’
‘I decided early in my startup journey that wasn’t going to be me,’ Robinson wrote.
He explained that he and his co-founders at Retention adopted a firm end-of-day routine. By 5 or 5.30pm, they would close their laptops, stop talking about business and return home to their families.
Adam Robinson, 45, and his wife Helen Sharp, 40, were traveling with their children Emma, four, and Charlie, two, aboard the Learjet 60 when it crashed in Florida on Sunday
Disturbing dash cam footage showed the Learjet 60 plunge nose-first into an intersection before bursting into flames
Robinson said he would sometimes leave work even earlier when he had plans with his children.
‘My family life gives me energy for my work. My work gives me energy for my family life,’ he wrote.
TMZ reports that Robinson’s family, friends and their nanny were headed to the Bahamas to mark his birthday.
The jet was flying east over Florida at 35,000 feet when co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras warned air traffic control that the aircraft was rapidly losing altitude.
‘Descending 20,000ft per minute… we’re going to crash into the ground,’ Filgueiras said. In the background, pilot Jeff Gregory, 55, could reportedly be heard reciting the Lord’s Prayer.
Cockpit audio recorded Filgueiras trying to explain the emergency to air traffic controllers in the moments before the Learjet 60 went down.
She reportedly said the aircraft had rolled 60 degrees, effectively flying on its side, while also communicating the rapid changes in altitude.
Our News Outlet has chosen not to publish the final moments of the recording because the audio is extremely distressing.
Robinson previously wrote on social media that he made family time a priority while building his startup. Source: Helen Robinson / Facebook
Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr, pictured, also died in the plane crash
The family’s nanny, Anita Maria Cetina, pictured, was among those killed
In the minutes before the crash, Filgueiras had also exchanged messages with her boyfriend, a fellow pilot, about the difficult conditions.
Her family told the New York Post that she texted her boyfriend Justin: ‘I’ve got turbulence, I’ve got ice.’
The National Transportation Safety Board said severe weather appeared to have been a ‘significant factor’ in the disaster. Investigators also believe a section of the jet may have broken away before the aircraft crashed, about eight miles from President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago country club.
Trump and Air Force One had departed Palm Beach International Airport roughly an hour earlier, as the president sought to rally Republican support ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections.
The crash scattered wreckage over a wide area and carved a large crater into the roadway. Authorities said no one on the ground was injured or killed.
Co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras was heard alerting air traffic control to the impending disaster shortly before the jet crashed
The crash created a huge crater in the center of the road and damaged nearby infrastructure
Some aviation specialists have suggested that the aircraft may have encountered ‘coffin corner’ while attempting to climb above two storm systems, or cells.
The term describes a dangerous situation at high altitude in which a jet’s minimum safe speed and maximum safe speed come extremely close together, leaving pilots with very little room to maneuver.
If the aircraft becomes either too slow or too fast, it can stall and rapidly become uncontrollable.
As the NTSB investigates the circumstances that caused the plane to fall from the sky, the victims’ families have remembered Adam and Helen as devoted parents whose children ‘were the light of their lives.’
‘Helen and Adam were the love affair that will last forever,’ the families said in a joint statement. ‘Their warmth, generosity and gift for making people feel welcome touched so many lives. Their loss will be felt deeply by all those who loved them and who they loved in return.’
The statement added: ‘Charmi and Rachel were full of joy and adventure. They loved their people fiercely, fully and without hesitation. From the moment they met, they were all in on each other and the life they were building. They are deeply loved, and we will miss them endlessly.’
‘Anita Maria cared for Emma and Charlie with tenderness and devotion, and she was truly part of the family. She showed us a legacy of unconditional love and devotion.’
‘On behalf of friends and family, it is with a heavy heart that we share that our dearest Helen was taken from us too soon,’ her family said in a statement.
‘To know Helen was to love her. The number of people grieving Helen and Adam is a testament to how many people were lucky enough to have them in their lives.’
